Search America's historic newspaper pages from 1789-1924 or use the U.S. Newspaper Directory to find information about American newspapers published between 1690-present. Chronicling America is sponsored jointly by the National Endowment for the Humanities external link and the Library of Congress. Learn more

Download & Play

Questions

Newspaper Page Text

pppppppppp
'DO YOUR SHOPPING EARLY" ON SATURDAY
IS SLOGAN THAT WILL HELP WORKERS
"Do your shopping early" may be
come a hot-weather slogan in the
campaign not only to save store girls
from all day work on Saturday in the
heat of summer which causes a lot
of them to faint behind the counters,
but in the education of the shopper
to the knowledge-that "systematized
shopping" is a step in advancement
The Consumers' league, which has
conducted a campaign each summer
in an endeavor to have the shopkeep
ers in the loop and in the outlying
districts close half day Saturday, as
some of the other loop stores have
been doing for years, has sent out
an appeal to women shoppers that
they "do their shopping early."
Despite the fact that Marshall
Field & Co., Mandel Bros, and Car
son Pirie, Scott & Co. are able to
close half a day Saturday, and sev
eral of the largest department stores
in the east have continued the prac
tice, established three years ago, of
closing the entire day of Saturday,
other loop shopkeepers insist the
public will not stand for it Siegel,
Cooper & Co., The Fair, Rothschild
& Co., Hillman and the Boston
Store proprietors have been giving
that excuse regularly for as many
seasons as the other stores have
been proving that it is possible to
close up.
Tho letter sent out by the Con
sumers' league, and signed by Elsa
Wertheim, reads:
'.'This is the season when everyone
who believes in the Saturday half
9 holiday should remember to shop be
fore one on Saturday afternoon. If
your belief in the Saturday half holi
day includes the wish that delivery
clerks should share it, have your
shopping finished by Friday after
noon. "Every year the campaign for ex
tending the summer Saturday half
holiday to retail clerks hasstumbled
on the same obstacle. The Iood re
tail stores which are open every Sat
urday afternoon the year around re
fuse to shorten their hours while
their rivals the large stores in out
lying neighborhoods keep open, not
only Saturday afternoon, but Satur
day evening and Sunday morning as
well. Meanwhile, the outlying stores
feel they must keep open Saturday
evening and Sunday, as their best
business hours are those during
which the loop stores. are closed.
Possibly nothing but the effective or
ganization of retail clerks will settle
this conflict between the loop stores
and the outlying establishments
which now drags out the working
day and week in both places.
"But it is another matter to keep
the stores already on the half holi
day list standing pat and to add to
their number new recruits from
among the stores whose proprietors
are now of divided mind on the sub
ject of closing. Many of these pro
prietors have signed, and circulated
among the stores in their own trade
group, agreements to close on Satur
day afternoon, only to find these
agreements broken by unscrupulous
proprietors to their own profit and
to the disadvantage of their compe
titors. "It is the unsystematic customer,
the indifferent customer, the selfish
customer, who tempts the store
keeper to be unscrupulous. It is in
our hands, as patrons of retail stores,
to keep the ground already gained
for the Saturday half holiday and to
add new ground. It is for us to ad
vocate greater relief from inside serv
ice during hot weather, for the clerks
behind the counter, by buying what
we need before one o'clock on Satur
day. "The ultimate gain will not be to
the clerk's alone, but to ourselves
also. The bulk of retail buying is
done by women, since they buy not
only for themselves, but for tbir
wmmumm